Harald Finster has passed on Jacqueline Coop's query regarding
the ownership of the coke ovens at Lysaught's steelworks in
Scunthorpe in the 1960s.
My slight knowledge is based on the fact that I was part of the
team of consultants at W.S. Atkins which carried out a study of
fourteen steelworks of British Steel's Midland Group in 1968, one
of those steelworks being Lysaught's (which had been GKN's prior
to the 1967 nationalisation).
I would say that the coke ovens were a key part of the steelworks
complex, whether or not they were on the same site. Their prime
purpose would be to produce coke for use in the blast furnaces
during the initial smelting of the iron ore (in those days predominantly
the local Frodingham ferruginous lime-rich ore mined both opencast
and underground in the locality). Coke oven gas was a major by-product,
most of which would have been used around the works for essential
heating purposes, such as pre-heating the blast air for the blast
furnaces, keeping cast steel ingots hot prior to rolling, etc, etc
I think I would be right in saying that all three steelworks in the
Scunthorpe area each had its own set of coke ovens. As I remember
it, Lysaught's works had three blast furnaces, smaller than the four
giant "Queens" at the Appleby Frodingham plant.
Tony Brewis
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